but we're breathing fine
by Achieving Elysium
Summary: There's nothing left but sin and a battle of feelings. No one ever said Athena couldn't love. No one ever said Athena couldn't kiss a mortal. And no one ever said Rachel Elizabeth Dare wouldn't kiss back. It's hard to breathe underwater, but as they're drowning, Athena is sure they're breathing fine. femslash, non-canon compliant, RachelAthena.


**but we're breathing fine**

And she knows  
it's a sin  
deadly and beautiful  
silent vows are exchanged

ø

It isn't long before Athena is swept away with the crowd. Rachel Elizabeth Dare is the new talk of Olympus, the golden one, a new face taking place of one who had been cursed. After all, it has been sixty-something years or the other. Of course, there's talk about brave Percy Jackson who is _apparently dating her daughter_, but she doesn't want to hear about that.

Instead she decides she will invite the new Oracle to coffee, because she is a curious soul. So they meet. They talk. So mortals aren't that bad.

ø

_"I am Athena," she says, motioning for Rachel to sit. "It is good to finally meet you."_

_"Hi," Rachel said. "I've heard about you, too, you know. Did you really manage to shoot Poseidon in the foot?"_

ø

Maiden, yes, oh,  
how dangerous is it  
that this goddess  
loves one of her own kind

ø

Starbucks is a tradition now. It's strange, this friendship between a goddess and a mortal, but they fit well together. Rachel makes her laugh some, though there is still a Sirius debate about which Harry Potter book is better.

A little while later, she realizes just how terrifying this is. Only two months. Two months, and Rachel is making her more human than she's ever been.

ø

_"Come," she calls. "Sit." Athena pats the space next to her on the stone bench. It is a stunningly intoxicating day, the sun on her back hot. Rachel inches closer in the garden, and she smells like flowers. Everything smells like flowers. _

_They are close now, sitting in (un)comfortable silence. Rachel's hair is on fire, gold-red like a phoenix. Their eyes meet and whatever feelings she has kept to herself explode and spin outwards in colorful swirls._

ø

Warfare and wisdom  
are thrown out  
the only battle  
is that of aching, lonely lust

ø

She puts the puzzle pieces together after weeks of weird feelings. Aphrodite winking at her. Little pink Post-It notes on her temple. All these little things. The love goddess is meddling with her mind, changing her eyes green, dressing strangely.. It's getting to her.

There is one last thing that sets her off. A small slip of paper. On it:

**love **(noun)

1. if you are **in love** with someone, you are passionately fond for him _or her_. Or her.

ø

"_But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, / And, constant stars, in them I read such art / As truth and beauty shall together thrive, / If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert; / Or else of thee this I prognosticate: / Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date," Rachel finishes. She claps softly, nodding with approval._

_"You have a good reading voice. Not too fast," she notes. She really, truly could listen to the girl forever, and Rachel blushes. _

_"I suppose you could do better, my lady?" she challenges, before the two burst into raucous laughter. _

ø

And she knows it was  
an accident that she loves  
but the sirens  
had never sounded so beautiful

ø

Sometimes, she lets her mind wander. Immortals such as her do not dream, but there are certain circumstances in which sometimes she wishes she could. Odysseus had been wise, forcing his crew to keep rowing as he listened to the song of the sirens. But it is irresistible. Many times, she finds herself thinking of red hair, soft between her fingers.

ø

_"Tell me," Rachel says, in the darkness and privacy of her temple. "Tell me you love me." Rachel has never been blunt, never been afraid, but it is then that Athena really truly sees it. _

_She grabs the girl and kisses her lips, sweet and unforgivable, in a maiden's temple._

ø

These words are almost foreign  
_i love you  
_on her lips  
but they've never felt so right

ø

It is wrong. So, so wrong. But Athena does not forget. She does not pay mind to the rules for once. Two maidens, one blood, one ichor. How opposite they are. Slowly, slowly, she's letting herself love this mortal, love the inside jokes and witty banters, love every single detail.

Loving has never felt so right.

ø

_The next time she sees Rachel, the Oracle is practicing for some class, which for some reason includes defining and talking about random words. She agrees to help._

_Athena flips to the first card and freezes. _

_"Handmaiden."_

_"Personal maid or female servant." She nods her assent. It isn't the most comfortable thing to think about. A man might use a handmaiden as a concubine to bear his child if his wife was infertile. For example, the biblical Rachel, the childless wife of Jacob, gave her handmaid Bilhah to her husband to produce children. A virgin, a maiden, a girl, another girl._

ø

Time and time again  
tick tock, tick tock  
the dawn goes down with day,  
and their painted hearts must part

* * *

My first ever femslash, and thanks to **Alicia** for **The Mortally Immortal Couples Challenge and** **Competition**. I totally understand where you're coming from now, Ali. I pretty much ship them non-canon compliant now.

Secret romances, two girls, _and _maidens. Wow. Um, in this context, Rachel is someone (technically a maiden) who has sworn off love. Athena is a virgin, meaning she has (kind of) taken vows of chastity, meaning no romance. Go figure.

If I got anything wrong, I'm sorry, because I am an atheist. I hope this wasn't too confusing with the tenses and stuff, and drop a review please! (I'm begging you.)

_Achieving Elysium_


End file.
